HYDERABAD: Despite the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issuing directions to all States to equip their respective police departments with sound level monitoring devices to control noise pollution, the Telangana government has not initiated any measures in that regard. In fact, it has not procured any sound level meters for police in Hyderabad or in other cities.
According to a State-wise compliance status report submitted to the NGT by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on various directions issued by the Tribunal regarding the control of air and noise pollution levels in a petition filed in 2018, most States have either already procured or have set a deadline for procurement of sound level meters for their police departments to monitor noise pollution in major cities.
In Karnataka, for example, the Bengaluru city police are provided with 108 sound level monitoring devices. The Odisha government issued 259 such devices for various districts and 551 sound level monitors for police stations.
It may also be mentioned here that the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) installed the real-time automatic noise level monitoring devices only in Greater Hyderabad limits even though the issue is quite serious in other cities as well. The Telangana government’s inaction comes as a shock to many as noise pollution is a serious problem in Hyderabad, which has the dubious distinction of being ranked among the top three noisiest cities in the country several times in the past by the CPCB.
Noise levels are recorded above the set standards for most days of the year at night as well as day, in the city’s commercial, residential, silent as well as industrial areas. In fact, the noise levels in commercial areas of Hyderabad are often recorded higher than even in industrial areas as per the data recorded by TSPCB.
